Friday, September 08, 2006

Report: Miami journalists on U.S. government payroll

Sep 8, 4:25 PM EDT

Report: Miami journalists on U.S. government payroll

By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ AP Hispanic Affairs Writer

MIAMI (AP) -- Ten journalists, including two staffers with The Miami Herald's Spanish-language sister paper, received a total of more than $300,000 from the U.S. government for working on a radio and TV station aimed at undermining Cuba's communist government, the Herald reported Friday.

Pablo Alfonso, who reported on Cuba and wrote an opinion column for El Nuevo Herald, was paid almost $175,000 since 2001 by the U.S. Office of Cuba Broadcasting to host shows on Radio and TV Marti, according to government documents obtained by The Miami Herald.

Olga Connor, a freelance reporter who wrote about Cuban culture for El Nuevo Herald, received about $71,000, and staff reporter Wilfredo Cancio Isla, who covered the Cuban exile community and politics, was paid almost $15,000 in the last five years, The Miami Herald reported.

Alberto Mascaro, chief of staff of the U.S. Cuban broadcasting office, confirmed to The Associated Press that all 10 journalists had received payments but said he did not have the details and declined to comment further.

Alfonso and Cancio were fired and Connor's freelance relationship with the paper was ended.

Alfonso and Cancio declined to comment to the Herald. The three did not respond to e-mails seeking comment sent by the AP.

Jesus Diaz Jr., president of the Miami Herald Media Co. and publisher of both newspapers, said the individuals violated a "sacred trust" between journalists and the public.

"I personally don't believe that integrity and objectivity can be assured if any of our reporters receive monetary compensation from any entity that he or she may cover or have covered, but particularly if it's a government agency," he told the Herald.

Al Tompkins, a professor at the Poynter Institute for journalism, agreed that journalists are obligated to inform their employers before they accept outside work and must avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.

But he added that newspapers are responsible for ensuring that everyone in the newsroom understands their ethical standards.

Tompkins said the Marti payments point to an institutional problem, especially when taking into account a recent photo montage in El Nuevo Herald. The paper later acknowledged the montage made it falsely appear as if two Cuban police officers were ignoring prostitutes.

The AP's e-mail and phone messages for Diaz were referred to Robert Beatty, Miami Herald Media's general counsel and vice president of public affairs.

Beatty said the papers' employees have consistently demonstrated a high level of integrity, and that it is their responsibility to disclose any real or perceived conflicts of interest.

"We have faith that our employees understand that practice and the principles that underlie that practice," he said. "And when they don't, we take action."

He told the AP that the payments were identified in documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act.

Other journalists who received payments included Diario Las Americas opinion page editor Helen Aguirre Ferre and reporter and columnist Ariel Remos. Ferre told The Miami Herald she didn't see a conflict of interest, and Remos said he enjoyed the freedom to speak his opinion on the stations.

Aguirre is the daughter of the paper's editor Horacio Aguirre, who did not immediately return a message left Friday by the AP.

Also listed as receiving more than $11,400 this year was WJAN-TV reporter Manuel Cao, who got into a videotaped confrontation with Cuban President Fidel Castro in July during the Mercosur Summit in Argentina.

Cao's news director also received payment but did not immediately return a message.

The Miami journalists are not alone in receiving payments for their time, said Larry Hart, spokesman for the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the independent U.S. agency that overseas Radio and TV Marti, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, among other groups.

Hart said most guests receive payment, adding, "for decades, some of the most prominent journalists in America have been paid to be on Voice of America."

He acknowledged that in recent years the practice has become far less common and could not say Friday if any AP staffer had been paid by U.S. government media outlets. AP policy states that freelance work must not represent a conflict of interest for either the employee or the AP and that no fees should be accepted from governments.

Last year, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Pentagon paid a consulting firm and Iraqi newspapers to plant favorable stories about the Iraq war and rebuilding efforts.

Hart said the Miami journalists were in a different situation.

"These people are saying what they want to say," he said.

The Cuban government has long accused the United States of paying South Florida journalists to promote anti-government propaganda.

The U.S. Office of Cuban Broadcasting is prohibited by federal law from broadcasting over U.S. airwaves, but its programs are streamed over the Internet.

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